If you want to build trust in your brand then look to communicate with your customers often, channel an authentic voice, treat your employees well, put the customers first and aim to do the right thing. Howard Schultz and Starbucks have done a phenomenal job of employing these practices. The result has been a loyal following and massive global growth. Starbucks has set a great example for smart entrepreneurs looking to build trust and respect for their organizations.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to Interview Evan Nierman.
Evan Nierman is Founder of the PR and Crisis Management firm, Red Banyan. Evan possesses 20 years of high-level experience in public relations, marketing, crisis management, online media, international relations, and public affairs. Throughout his career, he has provided strategic communications counsel to top business leaders, government officials and presidential candidates, and private individuals.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I was working for a phenomenal organization that had a great reputation was unfailingly professional, really best class of what they did. Through no fault of their own they found themselves embroiled in a crisis situation. I saw from that experience that good people and great organizations can find themselves enmeshed in complex circumstances. I decided I wanted to spend my career focusing on how to help good people and good organizations get through tough times and not have other people spread misinformation, disinformation or attack their credibility.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the funniest marketing mistakes that I made was launching my company Red Banyan with a horrible logo. It was supposed to be reminiscent of the name — and was a red banyan tree. But the dangling vines from the tree looked like dripping streams of blood.
I tried improving the logo to get rid of the sinister-looking tree but ended up with what appeared to be a mushroom cloud from a nuclear detonation. Eventually we got it right and I learned a valuable lesson about logos — hire a professional to design them!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are updating and upgrading the diversity, inclusivity and sensitivity training that we offer to our team members. I think it’s important to ensure that we all do our part to make the world more equitable for all people.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
The thing that separates from us from other business is our relentless dedication to our core values: results, integrity, commitment & can-do, accountability and speed. This guides how we interact with each other and our clients and defines who we are as an organization. We introduce the concept of RICAS to every client and prospective client with whom we speak because it is important for them to know. We are very clear about who we are and what we value the most. If they appreciate those core values and if they resonate with them, we tend to have a great working relationship.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
Product marketing is focused on a single product or an object. Brand marketing is much broader. It encapsulates the reputation of the provider, the ethos of the company itself. When you are marketing a product, you want to talk about differentiators and assurances that the product is high quality and worthwhile. When you are talking about brand marketing you want to introduce people to the folks behind the product and the service and really focus on building a reputation. For example, emphasizing the spirit of collaboration rather than just emphasizing an item. Product marketing is much more about a commodity whereas when you are doing brand marketing, it is bigger than any one object or product.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
As in life, you want to put your best foot forward. You want to be known and appreciated. If you do not invest in brand marketing, customers or clients may never get to know you. Even worse, they may make false assumptions if you allow others to define your brand. Do it yourself to ensure brand recognition.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each. In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
If you want to build trust in your brand then look to communicate with your customers often, channel an authentic voice, treat your employees well, put the customers first and aim to do the right thing. Howard Schultz and Starbucks have done a phenomenal job of employing these practices. The result has been a loyal following and massive global growth. Starbucks has set a great example for smart entrepreneurs looking to build trust and respect for their organizations.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
In some cases, you can put metrics around the success of your brand building campaign. In other cases, it is more qualitative feedback. Consider such things as a Net Promoter Score, which provides metrics about customer satisfaction. Such information helps you gain insight into how they view your brand. You can also look at your business’s growth and the number of new customers and referrals. People wouldn’t give referrals if your business isn’t doing a good job.
Look for other measures like social media growth, earned media hits, visitors to your website, and the number and quality of testimonials and reviews talking about you and your business.
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Branding must play a principal role in today’s hyper-connected era. Social media is where your customers and prospective customers live and spend time. It is absolutely essential that your social media be taken into account. Social media is your voice to the world which is why it is so important that your social media captures your voice and the reflects positively on you.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
Dump your annoying customers and give up the revenue in short term for the experience of working with people who appreciate and trust you. There is nothing more demoralizing and annoying for team members, solopreneurs or business owners than to work with people who don’t reflect your values and treat you like hired help as opposed to a strategic partner. Having the courage to fire substandard clients is vital because it lifts the morale of your team and opens you up opportunities you would never have had because you would have been spending so much time and energy dealing with negative customers who consume your resources and sap your mental energy
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If people would commit themselves to a daily or weekly act of kindness for a stranger, I think there would be a dramatic improvement in their lives. They would be making the world warmer more positive and wonderful place.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My life lesson quote comes from John Lennon in the Beatles’ song “The End”: “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.” The poignant lyric that reminds us that material things ultimately mean nothing. The best thing we can do is leave behind a legacy of love.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I choose psychologist and author Gay Hendricks. His book The Big Leap was a life changer for me — I reread it every year, recommend it to friends and family and gift it frequently. I think Gay is incredibly positive, inspiring and warm as reflected by his writing. It would be a true pleasure to have lunch with Gay and tell him face-to-face how much I appreciate his words of wisdom and how his book has helped me.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Red Banyan is on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Evan Nierman of Red Banyan: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
